Friday, February 15, 2013

When Mom is Occupied

Runewars

My husband's cholecystectomy and recovery has kept me busy for the last week. I decided not to take the week off from schooling because I knew it would be harder to get back into things the following week if we just dropped everything. I also knew that a full week of schooling was not going to happen because I just couldn't focus enough to plan and carry out my part of the deal. On top of that, I knew the boys were stressed out by the whole ordeal so I figured they might need some time to unwind.

We started the week off by finishing the things that we had to put aside last week when our schedule was interrupted by appointments and trips to the hospital. Tuesday we had our bi-weekly book club meeting, so that filled most of our day. For the remainder of the week I only assigned math, reading, American history, and art. Our American history studies have been focused on the industrial revolution. Yesterday we finished reading Samuel Slater's Mill and the Industrial Revolution. Then I found this PBS documentary called Mill Times with David Macaulay that we watched today.

nothing like Monopoly

Obviously, that short list of work has not kept the boys busy all week. What they have been spending a lot of their free time doing is playing board games with their dad. Since my husband has not been able to work and can't move around much, board games have been a good activity for him. This game of Runewars has been set up for three days on the library table. They play a little each day when they finish their school work. I am not a big gamer like the rest of my family, so I usually use the time they are playing to get other things done around the house.

Ahoy, mateys!

Tonight, my daughter and her husband came over for dinner. After we cleared the table, they all set up Merchants and Marauders. EM and I did not play, but JT did play with my husband, daughter, and son-in-law. During a quick break to take his shower, JT was explaining to me how the chances of him getting a specific action could be calculated using a linear inequality. I was very excited to hear him say that since he's been working on inequalities for math this week and was struggling to understand their application. Interestingly, my algebra class on Coursera is also covering inequalities right now, so I was just as happy to see real life application.

Next week I hope to get back to a full schedule. Having the flexibility to slow down and take life as it came this week was a real blessing for our family. There are few times I appreciate our homeschooling lifestyle more than when we are dealing with a crisis. And now I'd like to appreciate it a little less with no new crises this year.

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Why Homeschooling?

Sometimes desperation leads to great new things. What started out as an escape from an unsuitable public school situation has turned into a wonderful adventure off the beaten path. We have tried a variety of schooling methods and have decided homeschooling is the best fit for our family.